The Mongol war machine was a dogged and battle-hardened enterprise by the time it set its focus on Russian soil and riches. The leaders of the Mongol Horde had learned much in their campaigns in China and central Asia. Not only did they bring with them the swiftness of their cavalry but they also had grown proficient in the use of siege equipment. They actually put to use several techniques and weapons from the lands they had conquered. They would assault a Russian city’s defenses day and night with hundreds of battering rams and catapults. In the beginning of their campaign in Russia, they doled out the same consequences to each city that defied them – often the city was razed and the inhabitants were massacred.